This can really be a great suggestion for Google..
– Android QuesitoMar 14 '12 at 20:54

8

If you use Play Store's web interface, you don't need to attempt installation to view an app's permissions - there is a tab on each app's page that lists them. Could save you a few clicks.
– ChahkMar 15 '12 at 17:43

@Chahk I can not find the tab. Would you mind to post an example link for that tab?
– MarcelSep 3 '13 at 22:31

@Marcel The Play Store website was recently redesigned by Google. Unfortunately they removed the functionality I was talking about. You now need to click the "Install" button to view permissions.
– ChahkSep 4 '13 at 20:43

9 Answers
9

UPDATE: Currently not functional according to Google Play store listing.

If you're interested, I've developed an app, StripSearch, to filter search listings by the permissions used. The app works by excluding results that don't meet the permission requirements specified by a given search filter (a filter can exclude, require, or ignore specific permissions). Several filters are included by default, but you can create your own as well.

Umm? Isn't the android_id stored in the /data/data/android.provider.settings/databases/settings.db database on the device, even with no GSF installed? Just wondering whether accessing that really needs a GSF permission (and not something like READ_SECURE_SETTINGS). I've already heard GSF somehow "overwrites" that original android_id on account initialisation – but is it stored in a different place on the device then? If so, where?
– Izzy♦Sep 18 '14 at 14:37

I originally thought that as well, but it turns out that that Android ID, while specific to each phone, is not a valid ID for supplying to Google Play. To access Google Play via the market API (which is how StripSearch works), the GTalk Android ID is required. This blog goes into more depth: blog.codepainters.com/2012/01/17/how-to-obtain-gtalk-android-id Thanks for taking a look!
– HassleFixesSep 18 '14 at 21:36

Thanks a lot! That came right in time. Was about to reflash one more device to use "without Google" (NOGAPPS with BlankStore instead). Now I have a valid android_id for that :)
– Izzy♦Sep 18 '14 at 22:11

How it currently CAN be done

During my morning routine reading my RSS feeds, I stumbled on a review at N-Droid, discussing an app named APEFS. This app is developed by German students (hence its description on the Playstore is in German, even if you set the language to English). But for our non-German readers, a short description here:

Basically, APEFS is an alternative front-end to the Google Playstore. You browse the playstore as you do with the original app, and search it the same. But when on the results list1, an advanced filter2 comes into play:

As the second screenshot shows, you can select what permissions your wanted app is permitted to have (checkbox marked), and what permission it should not have (checkbox unchecked).

However: While this can be used to filter out apps with unwanted permissions (e.g. show only apps whitout the Internet permission), you can not restrict your results to the opposite (e.g. show only apps with Internet permission). The app clearly targets at users concerned about their privacy/security -- and according to the review (I just found it a couple of minutes ago, so I could not test it yet) it does a very good job.

EDIT:

As it's already a year ago, and the promise on the APEFS Homepage (GTransed to English, as their own English version doesn't have that statement in the first paragraph) seems not to be fulfilled anytime soon (the app is still offline): Please consider the web-based solution from my other answer as an alternative meanwhile.

The link to the Google Play store is broken, is this the updated one? Ps: if yes, there's already English support...
– ZuulAug 27 '13 at 14:45

@Zuul No, that's the wrong one. The Play link is only temporarily broken, thanks to the "Play-8 relaunch" of the now tile-store (see APEFS Homepage (GTransed to English)). Obviously the app used some site-scraping ;) Unfortunately, their English page does not contain that notice...
– Izzy♦Aug 27 '13 at 15:55

2

@sashoalm see three comments on top of yours. It got incompatible with the PlayStore relaunch. Their website says they're working on an update – but that seems to take rather long (it says so ever since the relaunch already). Still, don't give up hope!
– Izzy♦Dec 9 '13 at 21:23

1

4 years later and they're still working on that update. However, @Izzy has inspired me not to give up hope ;-)
– Spencer DSep 4 '17 at 2:06

2

@Izzy, fyi, StripSearch is also broken it seems. I'm not sure if it is still somehow working for some people, but for me it did not work, and I believe I read comments somewhere else that other users were reporting it as broken. (Those might have actually been in Play Store reviews of the app.) Regardless, I ended up using your solution which worked perfectly. I didn't want to leave feedback on that, though, just saying, "+1 thanks;" however, your webpage is the only working search/filter I found. So, you got my upvote and my gratitude. You made an excellent contribution to the community.
– Spencer DSep 7 '17 at 21:56

More than two years have passed since this question was asked. Still, there's no „official solution” available. Despite its promises, APEFS (introduced in my previous answer over a year ago) has not returned. So I decided to create my own solution:

For almost 4 years now, I maintain listings of „Android apps by purpose”, i.e. grouped by their use cases. In march, I started moving them to my own server. All MetaData are stored in a database on that server, and so finally I was able to setup a search by permissions.

You can select between 1 and 5 categories here (note that selecting a „parent category” automatically includes all its „children”), plus one or more permissions. Default presets are for finding „permission-friendly apps” – so if you're after such a candidate, you can simply submit the form after having made described selections. This should make it easy to e.g. find a PIM app which does not request the Internet permission (to keep your personal data on your device).

However, the opposite is possible as well: If you e.g. want to investigate what good NFC can do for you, select the up to 5 categories you're interested in, then the NFC permission, switch the „Permissions” dropbox to „include”, and optionally the sorting to „by rating, descending” (to get the best-rated apps first).

When in doubt, there's that little question-mark icon in the top-right corner, providing you with some „online help”.

But that's not all. As I've explained in the second paragraph, apps in my lists are grouped by their „purpose”, i.e. what you need them for. So apps with comparable functionality should appear next to each other:

So you can compare them not only by rating, but also pick the one requesting less permissions (number in the box; in above image indicated by a „red 6”) or, if possible, without any concerns (no red border around the box). Clicking the app's name reveals some more details, as shown. And there are many „easter-eggs” (i.e. MouseOver events) – again, be pointed to the help page.

Full disclosure: As initially indicated, the described site was designed by me, built by me, filled by me with its content, and is further maintained by me. It's available bi-lingual (English/German), free of any charge (this includes: no cookies, Flash-cookies, whatever), etc. This question here at Android.SE was one of the reasons I've set it up.

Further be aware of the fact that this doesn't cover the entire „playstore collection”. As of today, there are a little over 10,000 apps recorded in the database (which is probably a little less than 1% of what's on Play – unless you don't count the crap, fakes, and useless apps on Play, then my records might cover about 10% ☺). Still I hope (and think) it's already a useful resource you'll enjoy.

Why currently this can't be done

When a developer performs the upload of his application to Google Play, the application manifest file gets read to a database, from where the search for apps is performed.

To allow searching for applications based on their permissions, one would have to access the database and collect data that concerns the application manifest node <uses-permission>, previously read from the AndroidManifest.xml file, where the developer has declared his application permissions.

While this seems quite straightforward, Google API does not provide means to this end:

Strictly, Google Play does not filter based on <uses-permission> elements.

Elaborating

All of this is done silently without the intervention of any search parameters.

A user either from Google Play or third party search engines, can limit the results after they get automatically filtered by Google, based on personal preferences like excluding paid apps; limit the results to apps that are compatible with the user devices, among others. But there's no way to interfere with the filters applied by Google. Even if, some how, we get to that part, the API essentially isn't prepared/designed to filter based on permissions as mentioned above.

I must say, your guide was helpful (see my answer here): it works, extracting app data (including permissions) via the Playstore API, feeding it to a database, and run the search against the latter :)
– Izzy♦May 28 '14 at 10:03

A round about way is to create a Java app that utilizes android-market-api. Presently it can search app based on "keywords or package name". The search query can be built to search for the necessary permission that is being sought. Little homework required, but seems useful.

After downloading androidmarketapi-0.6.jar and protobuf-java-2.2.0.jar (of course you should have JRE already setup) you can execute the following:

java -jar androidmarketapi-X.Y.jar myemail mypassword myquery

You have to replace X.Y with 0.6 as that is the present version and replace credentials and query. For building query you can visit this page.

What kind of query would yield apps by permission? I don't see anything related to that.
– R RAug 17 '12 at 16:50

I am not sure about it as only searching by package name by "String query = "pname:<package>";" and by developer name "String query = "pub:<name>";" are given as example. By providing the suitable keyword in search (which has to be dug out), I hope you could get what you are looking for.
– NarayananAug 19 '12 at 13:53

That's what I'm trying to avoid. Downloading half million Web pages is not on the top of my fa,vorite pastimes. 12GB of bandwithand 50GB of raw data and who knows how many machine hours. I can write the code I would just prefer not to.
– R RAug 17 '12 at 14:11

1

Buy a server, write a program that caches the permissions list and run it there, and refresh cache for apps when they get new versions - but only when the app matched some user's keyword query (and you can even paginate the results and limit yourself to the pages the user views.) Then add ads so you can pay for the server, and maybe even add steps "???" and "PROFIT!".
– Adrian PanasiukAug 18 '12 at 20:56

Searching with the permission name still means it searches at best through the description of the app

For example :"COARSE (NETWORK-BASED) LOCATION" -> searching for this will list down applications which have this information listed in their descriptions, but it fails to search through the Permissions tab.

If google allowed to scrape the info of all the apps, like i was, then i would be able to provide the world with a search engine to search apps through permissions they require :)

"None of the solutions mentioned here are working as of Feb 2017." Cannot believe that. My app search still works, and it's Feb 2018 even ;) // Thanks for your approach – but it doesn't fully fit the question. Goal was to eliminate apps from the result list if they request certain permissions – not just a list sorted by numbers of permissions. And AFAIK the "free tier" is limited to 10 requests per day. Nice idea, though :)
– Izzy♦Feb 15 '18 at 12:11

1

oops, edited to feb 2018. I like your solution, but it's a curated list, which doesn't scale. The apps that I have developed, for example, are understandably not on your list, although they require very few permissions and are popular. The filter.js that I linked to is example code that can be tailored (by someone who knows programming). Perhaps if I get more time I will make it more configurable for non-programmers.
– HRJFeb 15 '18 at 16:01

Sure, the incompleteness is a draw-back. But you're always welcome to recommend apps to become listed, Harshad – here for the app listings, and here for the repo :) As you take care to request as few perms as possible, I'd be especially interested to have those apps listed.
– Izzy♦Feb 15 '18 at 17:09

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